Gallagher’s reasoning is steeped in the cold logic: Carolina Hurricanes fans rarely get the chance to witness the odd synchronicity displayed by the Sedin twins. Gallagher points out the fact that the Canucks rarely appear on Versus and they only play against Carolina once every year, appearing in Raleigh itself once every two years.

The Canucks never appear on Versus or NBC, so unless you are a big enough fan to pay your satellite or cable provider for the NHL package, the only time you ever see the twins is every year when the Canes play the Canucks. Fans see them live once every two years. And even if you invest in the package, they start 47 of their 82 games after 10 p.m. in the evening.

With few enough attractions to make this game worth watching in the first place, now you’re going to turn the magic of the twins into exactly what everyone else brings to the game, which is to say you’re going to make the twins just be two ordinary good players like everyone else. It makes no sense for the fan paying the big ticket price.

I find it hard to believe that fans would be beaten up by the idea of splitting up the twins. After all, would you rather see something that happens all season long (the Sedins twins playing together) or something that never happens (the Sedins squaring off against each other)? Something tells me the novelty factor is very valuable, especially during an event as novel and leisurely as the All-Star Game.